Prepared ready-to-eat pizza for take-out or delivery is often packaged in a corrugated square box having an attached openable lid or cover. While such corrugated box has desirable properties for packaging and transporting a hot pizza, nevertheless, such box is costly.
Due to competitiveness in the pizza market, attempts have been made by some pizza retailers to minimize cost by adopting a packaging technique which does not utilize a corrugated pizza box. Such alternate packaging technique generally involves use of a separate flat support tray (typically of corrugated cardboard) for the pizza, with the tray (bearing a pizza thereon) then typically being packaged within a paper bag. Due to the minimal use of corrugated cardboard in the tray and the simplicity of the tray construction, coupled with the use of an inexpensive paper bag, the overall two piece package (tray and bag) can be less expensive than a corrugated pizza box.
When using this tray-bag packaging technique, in most instances the tray is merely a flat planar member formed typically as a circle so as to support the pizza thereon, whereby the tray can be inexpensively formed. As a variation thereof, there is also in use a tray formed of corrugated cardboard and having a generally rectangular base wall which supports the pizza thereon, with one opposing pair of side edges of the base wall having small-height sidewalls which fold upwardly slightly above pizza height in an attempt to provide some constraint and protection for the pizza. These upwardly folded sidewalls, however, do not lock in position, and hence can be undesirably folded downwardly and inwardly so as to contact the pizza.
While the tray-bag packaging technique may be less expensive than corrugated pizza boxes, nevertheless the tray-bag package does have significant and recognized disadvantages. The bag can be easily deflected downwardly or deformed so that it comes into contact with the pizza, hence causing the bag to stick to the pizza and also causing the bag to become wet from moisture or grease. While often times a small plastic spacer is positioned centrally on top of the pizza in an attempt to maintain the pizza spaced from the bag, nevertheless this not only requires a separate packaging element and labor, but this is also of minimal effectiveness with respect to preventing contact between the pizza and the wall of the paper bag. Further, when the tray is provided with a pair of upwardly folded side walls, these sidewalls are also of minimal effectiveness in preventing contact between the paper bag and pizza, and in fact the sidewalls themselves can fold downwardly to contact the pizza as discussed above. The tray-bag package also makes it difficult to handle and transport more than one packaged pizza at a time since the tray-bag package does not satisfactorily stack on top of one another, and in fact such stacking greatly increases the probability of the bag coming into contact with the pizza. Also, the tray-bag package is much less effective in retaining the heat of the pizza, and hence any extended transporting time will result in greater cooling of the pizza prior to reaching its destination.
All of the pizza packaging techniques discussed above, including both the known pizza trays and the known corrugated pizza boxes, have the added disadvantage that placing the box or tray directly on a table or other support top for any extended period of time may cause possible damage due to the moisture or grease in the pizza penetrating the corrugated cardboard and hence contacting the underlying table or support top.
Hence, there exists a need for an inexpensive pizza package which minimizes and in fact overcomes many of the disadvantages discussed above as associated with conventional corrugated pizza boxes or conventional tray-paper bag packaging combinations.
The present invention relates to an improved pizza package, specifically a pizza package which involves a tray for supporting a pizza with the tray being positionable within a paper bag, and in particular this invention relates to improvements associated with the pizza support tray so as to overcome many of the disadvantages noted above while at the same time providing a relatively inexpensive package which is convenient to both utilize and handle.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a pizza tray and a flat blank that is easily folded into a pizza tray having a pair of opposing sidewalls that lock in a vertical position, with the blank being cut so as to minimize the amount of corrugated cardboard. The sidewalls have extensions that fold inward from the sidewalls and which have feet extending downward that lockingly engage with the horizontal planar member of the blank by extending through slots therein, which slots are formed by score lines and respective foldable pressure tabs. The pressure tab folds downward about its respective fold line when a foot is pressed against it. The pressure tab lockingly engages the foot by pressing against it. A score line extension extending from each slot can be cut to accommodate a toe on each foot for providing additional locking of the foot. The feet project downwardly below the bottom of the tray and act as supports which prevent the bottom of the tray from coming into contact with a counter or table top.
Other objects, purposes and advantages of the invention will be understood from the following detailed description and drawings.